The field of the invention is electrical connectors, and more specifically, connectors for fastening wires to terminals which are disposed along one edge of a printed circuit board.
In electrical apparatus such as solid state controllers, numerical control directors, programmable controllers, digital computers, and communication equipment, the circuit components are mounted on one or more printed circuit boards which are closely spaced to one another and are interconnected by a wire harness, or a "mother board". In programmable controllers, for example, the circuit boards are also connected to external devices such as switches, motors, relays and solenoids. The connection of such devices to the electrical equipment is made by the user and it may involve the connection of hundreds or even thousands of wires to a large number of printed circuit boards.
There are numerous commercially available connectors which provide suitable termination for a bundle of wires and which fasten to a printed circuit board. The wires are attached to the connector by the user and the connector is then plugged onto one edge of a printed circuit board where it makes electrical connection with a set of circuit board terminals. When the circuit board is to be inspected or removed, the connector is unplugged and its attached wire harness is folded back to provide access to the board.
When prior connectors are used and a malfunction occurs in one circuit board, it is usually necessary to shut down the entire apparatus. In the input/output rack of a programmable controller, for example, each input and output circuit contains a fuse which protects the circuitry from short circuits applied at the terminals. It is not an uncommon event for one of the fuses to open circuit, and a means for disconnecting power from the affected circuit board and providing quick access to the fuses thereon without powering down the entire system is highly desirable.